Mpora » James Carsonhttp://mpora.com/articles
The Best in Action SportsSat, 01 Aug 2015 15:09:37 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3Infographic: Men’s Drug Aware Margaret River Pro Previewhttp://mpora.com/articles/infographic-mens-drug-aware-margaret-river-pro-preview
http://mpora.com/articles/infographic-mens-drug-aware-margaret-river-pro-preview#commentsWed, 02 Apr 2014 11:25:14 +0000http://mpora.com/articles/?p=8860The men’s Drug Aware Margaret River Pro hits the waves this weekend in Perth Australia, and our friends at Surfagram have put together this great infographic to give you plenty of facts and stats about the competition. It’s a great location for home surfers – Australians have won the event in 80% of cases! For […]

]]>The men’s Drug Aware Margaret River Pro hits the waves this weekend in Perth Australia, and our friends at Surfagram have put together this great infographic to give you plenty of facts and stats about the competition.

It’s a great location for home surfers – Australians have won the event in 80% of cases! For more, check out the graphic below:

]]>http://mpora.com/articles/infographic-mens-drug-aware-margaret-river-pro-preview/feedInfographic: Women’s Drug Aware Margaret River Pro Previewhttp://mpora.com/articles/infographic-womens-drug-aware-margaret-river-pro-preview
http://mpora.com/articles/infographic-womens-drug-aware-margaret-river-pro-preview#commentsWed, 02 Apr 2014 11:16:56 +0000http://mpora.com/articles/?p=8853The surf’s up today in the Women’s Drug Aware Margaret River Pro, and our buddies at Surfagram have put together this infographic to tell us all about the key stats of the competition. Carissa Moore goes into the contest as the title holder, but she’s got to win three more if she’s going to be […]

]]>http://mpora.com/articles/infographic-womens-drug-aware-margaret-river-pro-preview/feedMustang Wanted Dead?? When April Fools Goes too Far!http://mpora.com/articles/mustang-wanted-dead-when-april-fools-goes-too-far
http://mpora.com/articles/mustang-wanted-dead-when-april-fools-goes-too-far#commentsWed, 02 Apr 2014 10:15:34 +0000http://mpora.com/articles/?p=8840April Fools – the day where basically every company online going is trying to dupe its users into thinking something that’s not true. But legendary Extreme Urban Adventurer Mustang Wanted, famous for climbing tall buildings with little regard for safety equipment and his mother’s sanity, took things a little far by announcing that he was… […]

]]>April Fools – the day where basically every company online going is trying to dupe its users into thinking something that’s not true.

But legendary Extreme Urban Adventurer Mustang Wanted, famous for climbing tall buildings with little regard for safety equipment and his mother’s sanity, took things a little far by announcing that he was… well… dead.

The announcement came about mid-afternoon via his Facebook page. His 106k Facebook followers seemed a little bit miffed. I for one felt a little like when Aussie crocodile hunter Steve Irwin was killed by a Stingray – slightly saddened, although not wholly surprised.

Urban Adventuring is possibly the most dangerous thing I can think of. Basically you climb up ludicrously tall buildings and do death defying stunts like hang off them with no safety harness. Mustang’s death seemed really quite feasible. Also – who would joke about their own death like that?

It then turned out about six hours later via fellow Urban nutter James Kingston that Mustang was indeed not dead:

]]>http://mpora.com/articles/mustang-wanted-dead-when-april-fools-goes-too-far/feedThis is What Happens When You Send a Phantom Drone into an Erupting Volcanohttp://mpora.com/articles/this-is-what-happens-when-you-send-a-phantom-drone-into-an-erupting-volcano
http://mpora.com/articles/this-is-what-happens-when-you-send-a-phantom-drone-into-an-erupting-volcano#commentsWed, 12 Mar 2014 18:29:05 +0000http://mpora.com/articles/?p=8619So this is pretty awesome. Take a drone, stick a camera on it, and then send it into an erupting volcano. As you’d expect, the drone captures some cool angles that no mere human could get. There’s load of lava spewing all over the shop, and a person would probably cook alive. So it turns […]

]]>At 4.04 am on Tuesday morning Alaskan Dallas Seavey was crowned champion of the 2014 Iditarod sled dog race. It took him 8 days, 13 hours, 4 minutes and 19 seconds to claim victory. Remarkably, runner up Aliy Zirkle was just 2 minutes and 22 seconds behind Seavey. It was the 2nd closest run Iditarod race in history after Dick Mackney won by a second in 1978.

If ‘Iditarod’ has got you slightly confused, it’s a massive sled dog race that runs from Anchorage to Nome in Alaska. Teams of mushers and 16 dogs cover a gruelling 1,000 mile route between the two cities.

Iditorad Route

The race typically takes 9-15 days to finish, so although it did take Seavey a while to complete, he did it in record time. The previous record was set by John Baker in 2011, finishing in 8 days, 18 hours and 46 minutes. Seavey also holds the record for youngest winner – he also won the race two years ago at the age of 25.

An exhausted Seavey at the finish line.

Fortune favoured Seavey, since the leader and four time champion Jeff King was leading in the last 77 miles. Unfortunately King found himself blown off course just miles from Nome, and had to retire despite having a safe lead of an hour. When Seavey crossed the line he was unaware of his victory, believing he’d come 3rd.

Many mushers are still out in the cold, fighting the harsh conditions. Seavey, on the other hand, will be enjoying banking a $50,000 victory cheque, a new truck and probably a very cosy spot next to the fire.

]]>http://mpora.com/articles/dallas-seavey-wins-iditarod-2014-in-record-time/feedMaikel Melero Wins in Breathtaking Night of the Jumps Showdownhttp://mpora.com/articles/maikel-merlero-claims-victory-in-berlin-night-of-the-jumps
http://mpora.com/articles/maikel-merlero-claims-victory-in-berlin-night-of-the-jumps#commentsMon, 10 Mar 2014 10:42:40 +0000http://mpora.com/articles/?p=8476The latest Night of the Jumps event took place in Berlin’s O2 World Arena on this weekend, with 12 FMX showmen vying for honours in Rounds 1 and 2 of the 2014 World Championships. For Saturday’s event, there was only a rider field of 10 for qualifying after Peter Pilat and top ranked Libor Podmol […]

The latest Night of the Jumps event took place in Berlin’s O2 World Arena on this weekend, with 12 FMX showmen vying for honours in Rounds 1 and 2 of the 2014 World Championships.

For Saturday’s event, there was only a rider field of 10 for qualifying after Peter Pilat and top ranked Libor Podmol crashed out. Podmol was attempting a world’s first surfer to super flip, but unfortunately didn’t make his landing and injured his wrist.

Victory in the preliminary heat went to Maikel Melero ahead of his training partner and mentor Dany Torres, with Remi Bizouard close behind in third. Brice Izzo and Jose Miralles also made it through to the showdown.

Dany Torres on his run

Izzo and Miralles put in strong final runs but ultimately the top three dominated. After Melero threw down a Double Seatgrab Flip and a new Tsunami Flip he took the winner’s trophy for the second successive night. Melero now leads the FMX World Championship table with a maximum 40 points.

]]>http://mpora.com/articles/maikel-merlero-claims-victory-in-berlin-night-of-the-jumps/feedDustin Craven and Kazu Kokubo Shredding the Whistler Backcountryhttp://mpora.com/articles/dustin-craven-kazu-kokubo-whistler
http://mpora.com/articles/dustin-craven-kazu-kokubo-whistler#commentsMon, 03 Mar 2014 11:59:46 +0000http://mpora.com/articles/?p=8244Snowboarders Dustin Craven and Kazu Kokubo took to the backcountry of Whistler to shoot this gallery from Monster Energy. Some incredible shots of incredible riding in an incredible place!

]]>http://mpora.com/articles/dustin-craven-kazu-kokubo-whistler/feedSurf Fitness Training: Preparing Your Body for a Surf Triphttp://mpora.com/articles/surf-fitness-training
http://mpora.com/articles/surf-fitness-training#commentsWed, 26 Feb 2014 15:06:06 +0000http://mpora.com/articles/?p=7899If you’re planning a surf trip, you’ll need to be at a half decent level of fitness if you’re going to make the most of it. Surfing is a fairly strenuous endurance activity, particularly if you’re aiming at being in the water for more than two hours a day. For week long trips or more, […]

]]>If you’re planning a surf trip, you’ll need to be at a half decent level of fitness if you’re going to make the most of it. Surfing is a fairly strenuous endurance activity, particularly if you’re aiming at being in the water for more than two hours a day. For week long trips or more, you’ll need to do some fitness work unless you’re already in good shape.

Standing up for the first time on a trip is always great – but if you want to do it repeatedly, you’ll need to be in shape.

The alternative is getting on your board, getting knackered after about an hour, then getting cramp and pretty severe muscle stiffness for a couple of days. The older and less fit you are, the more difficult it will be to get back on the board and enjoy the whole reason for going.

General Preparation – 2 Weeks before Holiday

If you haven’t broken a sweat through exercise for a month or more, then about two weeks with three general fitness sessions of 30-45 minute sessions per week should be enough to get you ready. It’ll give enough time for your body to adapt to strenuous activity.

It’s important that you don’t go hell for leather in the first few sessions. If you haven’t been running for a while, setting yourself 5km+ on a treadmill will very likely hurt; much like if you jump on a bench press and attempt to lift your heaviest weight. Take it easy – over exertion will likely leave you stiff for a prolonged amount of time. Worse still, it gives you a higher chance of injury.

You’ll probably notice after the first couple of sessions your body is quite stiff and even raw. This is normally just a lactic acid build up. Once the first wave of stiffness has rescinded, you won’t feel it again unless you push yourself too hard.

Specific Exercises for Surfing

Your sessions don’t have to be particularly complicated, and you can certainly prepare without the need for any gym equipment. The exercises below should easily suffice:

Running, Swimming or Cycling

Any exercise that can drive aerobic fitness will be good for surfing. This commonly means low to medium intensity exercise for 20 minutes or more. You can really pick between running, swimming or cycling.

Of course, swimming brings other benefits than simply aerobic exercise. Front crawl is probably the best all round stroke for helping your shoulders and arms adapt for a few days surfing.

Press Ups

Possibly the most straightforward exercise you can do (no gym equipment required), but highly relevant for surfing. After all, when you catch a wave you’ll need to basically do a press movement and turn.

If you do a set to failure one evening before bed two weeks before your trip, then aim to do it every night – with a small improvement each time – you’ll have the right amount of conditioning for you upper body for the holiday.

Kettle Bells

It’s not necessary to start body building, but if you want to gain some core strength, then a few kettle bells are probably the best weights you can do. The problem with most barbell weight exercises is that they usually only exercise a specific muscle group.

Because of the wide range of movements associated with kettle bell exercises, they can be more effective in getting your body ready for more strenuous activity. They’re also good in finding weak spots and exercising them. Even if you don’t have the weights to do the exercises – just mimic the movements without the weights.

Balance

Riding a wave is almost all about balance, so while you’ll want to get your fitness levels up to paddle out and catch waves, improving your balance is important if you want to be standing every time.

Simple balance exercises include walking heel to toe, standing on one leg or doing step ups. You could take this further by getting a flat surface board and Pilate’s roller, then maintaining your balance on that.

If you have a Nintendo Wii with Wii Fit or Microsoft Kinect with XBOX Fitness, then both of these have plenty of balance exercises which are great for surfing.

]]>http://mpora.com/articles/surf-fitness-training/feedDamien Walters Manages a Loop the Loop… With Only His Feethttp://mpora.com/articles/damien-walters-manages-a-loop-the-loop-with-only-his-feet
http://mpora.com/articles/damien-walters-manages-a-loop-the-loop-with-only-his-feet#commentsWed, 26 Feb 2014 14:37:51 +0000http://mpora.com/articles/?p=7886So it’s possible for a human, on foot, to do a loop the loop. We’ve seen it done on a skateboard and BMX – both are pretty mean feats – but without any mechanical assistance? Wow. Main thing is of course, this loop the loop is pretty small compared to the ones attempted on other […]

So it’s possible for a human, on foot, to do a loop the loop. We’ve seen it done on a skateboard and BMX – both are pretty mean feats – but without any mechanical assistance? Wow.

Main thing is of course, this loop the loop is pretty small compared to the ones attempted on other contraptions, but still I don’t reckon you could do it if you were presented with a same sized loop, even if you’d had a few beers.

Damien Walters is a British former elite gymnast freerunner from Derbyshire whose free running stunts have made him an online sensation. Damien’s also performed moves as a professional stuntman in Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Scott Pilgrim VS the World and Captain America: The First Avenger and in Kick-Ass he was credited as both stunt double and assistant fight coordinater

Mainly this video is of Damien trying to do the loop, but falling onto a crash mat or stopping short. After all, it’s pretty difficult. but then at 2:28 he pretty much nails it. If we’re being picky his exit could use a little fine tuning, but it’s a human loop the loop! I mean, WTF?

]]>http://mpora.com/articles/damien-walters-manages-a-loop-the-loop-with-only-his-feet/feed5 of the Best Surf Spots in South East Asiahttp://mpora.com/articles/surf-spots-in-south-east-asia
http://mpora.com/articles/surf-spots-in-south-east-asia#commentsTue, 25 Feb 2014 17:27:30 +0000http://mpora.com/articles/?p=7777[splitpost intro=”true” order=”true”] Southeast Asia seems like a rite of passage destination for most twenty-somethings these days, whether it be on a pre or post Uni gap year travel around Indo China, or for an extended break to Thailand. The amazing weather, top class nightlife and incredible value for money once you’re there are the […]

Southeast Asia seems like a rite of passage destination for most twenty-somethings these days, whether it be on a pre or post Uni gap year travel around Indo China, or for an extended break to Thailand. The amazing weather, top class nightlife and incredible value for money once you’re there are the key draws, but it’s also a ripe destination for a surf trip.

While Thailand doesn’t have many great spots, it does have a few on the west coast, and if you’re going for a prolonged trip it’s possible to head elsewhere. If you’re planning a trip to Southeast Asia and want to get on your board while you’re out there, then check out this guide on some of the top spots.